Seminars, Games And Other Fun Stuff Part 4
DragonLance Movie, Hickman's Killer Breakfast, Forgotten Realms And Costumes
I really thought I could wrap this up in the last post, but I got too wordy with the Kenzer stuff. No problem though. This post should wrap things up, I hope.
Forgotten Realms Lives
Once upon a time, back in the late 80's, a campaign setting was created for AD&D called Forgotten Realms. It was created by Ed Greenwood. Ed had been writing novels and creating stuff for TSR for years before that. I have some of his Dragon Magazine articles, and I had my hands on one of his Companion Edition modules at Gencon (put it back as it was a little pricey). I don't know the exact story, but Forgotten Realms would replace the Gygax created Grayhawk as the #1 campaign setting of AD&D. Even now, just a few years into the existence of Eberron, The Forgotten Realms is #1.
It's easy to understand why. The Forgotten Realms is everywhere. If you are not in the game, you can read books about characters in the land, such as Greenwood's Elminster Aumar and R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden. Many of the best D&D computer games are based in the Forgotten Realms, such as Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, three games I have played and enjoyed. I also have the Undermountain 1 & 2 Boxed Sets, and within the last year was actually able to successfully play to completion the bug riddled Descent To Undermountain (I rather liked that game). Let's not forget the Gold Box games SSI made based in the Forgotten Realms.
Yep, FR is everywhere, and the room was packed with players wanting to know that the setting would live in 4th Edition D&D. It will. Are you kidding? The FR is a cash cow. It's not going anywhere. As Greenwood and the panel explained in this 2 hour presentation, the best is yet to come. Greenwood doesn't do the act of putting on the wizard's hat and becoming Elminster anymore. I would have loved to see that actually. You can tell he's still excited about the future of the world he created.
Ed confessed that he misses the days of the boxed set with all the maps, such as Undermountain 1 & 2 had back in the day. The Expedition To Undermountain book that came out a couple months ago was lacking in the map department. Now the map to the old boxed set was something you could get lost in, or spend a whole night gaming with it and still not get very far. Ah, the old days of the serious dungeon crawl...
If you are late to the Elminster party, Ed revealed that the Annotated Elminster hard cover set is coming. It features The Making Of A Mage, Elminster In Myth Drannor and The Temptation Of Elminster, along with behind the scenes stuff from Ed. Oh, and there is lots of Salvator's Drizzt goodies coming in the future, and more Drizzt vs. Elminster comparisons by fans too, I would guess.
Richard Baker has a book coming called Sword Mage. Halberg of Moonsea comes home and finds that all is not as it should be. What's going on? Guess you'll have to read the book to find out. And, there are other novels coming as well.
Now, in 4th Edition D&D, not all of the FR will be covered in the books the way people may like, at least not at first. The reason is the cost of printing. It's not cheap. Some material for 4th Edition FR will have to go into the Digital version of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, which will require subscriptions. However, it sounds as if the first campaign setting book to come after the core rule books are released next year will be for the Forgotten Realms. There will be a book to help you create Realms characters, and the first (as of yet unnamed) module is also in the works.
Yep, the Forgotten Realms lives, and it figures to continue for the foreseeable future. Now, if we could get a little bit of love for Mystara...
Weis, Hickman And DragonLance
I'm not sure what the future as a campaign setting for DragonLance is, but I'll yell you one thing. It has loads of fans, and they seem to want more. I'm less familiar with DL than FR, but when I heard the next D&D Movie would be in a DL setting, I wanted to know more. Recently, Wizards of the Coast revoked the license from Margret Weis & Tracy Hickman to create more adventures in that campaign setting. As I don't know all the details, I won't say anything else, but they did comment on stage that they weren't happy about the situation.
I would guess not. A movie is coming out with the possibility of more, and suddenly this happens. I hope for the best. Wizards has to realize the possibility to make money here, and the creators of this setting should still be a part of it's future. They certainly seem like they want to be. Then again, if Wizards can have people other than Gygax creating Grayhawk stuff...
At this point, we'll have to wait and see and hope for the best.
Let me just throw a link to what is still the official DragonLance page for now.
They showed a trailer to the packed room of several hundred people. The movie is called Dragons of Autumn Twilight, by the way. Some of it was in black and white as it was still unfinished. We heard some of the musical score to the movie and a making of the musical score film was shown. Among the cast for this movie:
Tanis Half-Elven: Michael Rosenbaum
Raistlin Majere: Kiefer Sutherland
Verminaard: David Sobolov
Goldmoon: Lucy Lawless
Flint Fireforge/Fewmaster Toede: Fred Tatasciore
Tika Waylan: Michelle Trachtenberg
Caramon Majere: Rino Romano
Tasslehoff Burrfoot: Jason Marsden
They have assembled a good cast of voice actors for this one. It was mentioned that Sutherland insisted on getting all the pronunciation right on the words. They said he was really into doing the job right.
They want to do sequels to this movie. Paramount is putting it out and has the option to do a theater release in November, but they are hoping for direct to DVD. The reason they want to go straight to DVD is there is a better chance to make money, and that gives them a better chance to make more movies. Sound logical to me. People are hoping for a better D&D movie than the first two.
An army of dragons descends upon Krynn after 300 years of peace, and they have to assemble an army to save themselves. The movie will be about an hour long, and Margaret Weis was involved in the making of this movie all the way. They are using some 3D effects in certain key scenes, and some will be regular animation. The reason being they want to tell the story and thought the best way would be with regular animation. The destruction of Istar is in this film. The story is contained within this film. As for when they will know if they will be able to make a second film, they say within 90 days of the release. They wanted to do a making of the movie book, but finally gave up as Wizards bogged things down.
All in all, it sounds like it should be a winner. I'll be checking it out when it comes out.
Now, Tracy and Laura Hickman have a little tradition they do at Gencon called The Killer Breakfast. Stupid me, when i came to the event, I actually thought it was a breakfast. What it is is Tracy up on stage with his wife hosting an informal game where all of the players die and are immediately replaced by another player. There are games and other fun stuff that happen during the 2 hour tradition. The honor is getting up there and having you character killed. Maybe you last a few minutes or a few seconds. The crowd gets a laugh out of it, and this is what it is all about. Members from the crowd get up there and their characters get killed, right along with celebrity's such as Gary Gygax and their characters.
I wasn't there for a long time, but I enjoyed the time I was there.
Costumes & The True Dungeon
I have mentioned this elsewhere, so I won't get into it too much, but there were people in costumes throughout the weekend. Everything from elves to demons to wizards to storm troopers to Darth Vader to Klingons to orcs. Well, there were some pretty neat costumes, let me tell you. They had contests at various times during the weekend, and I'll bet the judges had a hard time picking the winners. This is the fun part of any con, checking out the costumes people go to great lengths to make. I didn't take nearly enough pictures, and the camera I was using made it a challenge. I'd consider taking part in something like this, but I wouldn't even know where to start.
There was also the True Dungeon event. I had read about this when it came out to Gencon LA a few years ago. At a cost of $40, I decided not to partake. It sounds interesting, but I need to do a little more research on it before spending the money. Maybe next time. As I don't know much more than it being the size of an actual dungeon that you explore, I'll include a link to the page here.
http://www.truedungeon.com/true/dungeon.html
In Closing
That about wraps it up. I hope I gave you a decent idea of some of what happened at Gencon 40. I know I didn't see all I could, but who does? This is a huge event, and you have to see it to believe it. I'm glad I made it on the 40th Anniversary of the convention. What a time to pick my first visit. I learned things, met some of my gaming heroes, was there when D&D 4th Edition was unveiled, added to my collection and had fun. I'm not sure if I will get back there next year, but I am already considering it. If you've never been there, you should make the trip and check it out. Heck, come a few days earlier and see the sights, check out a race and have some fun. Indianapolis and Indiana in general is beautiful in the summer. You won't be disappointed.
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